1. Field of the Invention
Bed alarm system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Elderly people and even younger people when bedridden and not in full possession of their mental faculties frequently fall out of bed with consequent harm to themselves. Efforts have been made to prevent this which efforts have included the placing of side rails at each side of the bed. Means have been provided for enabling the side rails to be raised or lowered. However, it has been found that patients frequently crawl over the side rails even when the side rails are elevated so that the fall is from an even greater height and the harm to the patient greater. In addition, many patients crawl over the foot rail at the foot of the bed which is normally not very high. Still further, there is a gap between the side rails and the foot rail through which patients have in the past crawled in an attempt to leave the bed with the result that the patients have fallen from the bed and hurt themselves.
It is desirable for a warning device to be activated advising when a bedridden patient is attempting to leave a bed so that the patient can be aided in these attempts without injuring himself. Still further, it is desirable that the patient be able to summon aid as needed. In the past a switch button has been provided for the patient which was connected to the nurses' station. When the patient desired a nurse's assistance he would activate the switch enabling a circuit to be completed so that a warning device (light and/or buzzer) would be activated at the nurses' station informing the nurse that the patient required assistance. The use of a patient actuated switch button for summoning assistance such as a nurse is usually satisfactory except that there are certain instances wherein a patient due to an enfeebled condition cannot find the switch button to call the nurse. This can present serious problems if the patient requires immediate attention and such attention cannot be given to the patient solely because a nurse is not aware of the patient's need for assistance.
It is often desirable to have a certain minimum amount of illumination during the evening hours for the bed in which an elderly bedridden patient sleeps.